


precious stone

by sciintiilla



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Killing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22749130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sciintiilla/pseuds/sciintiilla
Summary: it was a difficult time in her life when she couldn't defend herself well - and after being threatened and robbed, Aiko Lilise throws herself into danger only to be saved by a man who would go on to be a long-lasting friend.





	precious stone

**Author's Note:**

> this is an older drabble that dates from around two years ago!! i've gone through and edited a few things since then but its writing style is a little different than how i write now... but it still holds a lot of sentiment to me and significance to Aiko's growth. it was also how i introduced another character into the game.

Aiko let out a yelp as she was suddenly grabbed and slammed into the wall beside her, now instinctively thrashing and fighting for her life. She began to reach for the tome at her side, but someone else - a roegadyn - came up and pinned her arms above her to the wall, making sure she had no freedom of movement. There were four of them: two Midlanders, the aforementioned roegadyn - a Hellsguard, and a Highlander. And all of them seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

“Listen here, lass, ‘tis better if ye don’t struggle,” One Midlander said; it was the same one that initialized the assault, giving a bored, cocky grin as he began to search through her pockets. Her foot came down as she slammed it on top of his, and he jolted back with a hiss of pain, before slapping her across the face in a bout of anger.

“Yer lucky we be inside the Steps of Thal, _kitten_ , or I’d kill you right here," He growled. "I _will_ make ye wish I had if ye scream, mark my words.” The murderous glare in his eyes told her that he wasn’t lying, so she bit her lip as hard as she could, tears now streaming down her face.

The other Midlander spoke up nervously as the thug returned to frisking her, “Boss, this is a dangerous area to be doin’ this. A Sworn could come around the corner-”

“Shut yer trap, Sig, this won’t take long.” Aiko tensed up in a frozen panic as he searched every pocket, every satchel on her, until he noticed the gem of the brooch attached to her tunic, regaining his smile and ripping it off. It was her soul crystal.

“ _No!!_ Give that back!” Aiko suddenly lashed out in an attempt to break free from the roegadyn, but it was no use. Physical prowess was never her forté. The Midlander examined the stone, admiring its simple beauty, then eyed the helpless Keeper.

“Sorry, kitten. A certain collector is paying good money tae get his hands on these crystals, and with the info we received from our… _watcher_ , ye been an easy target,” He explained, casually tossing it once in the air before catching and shoving it into a pocket. “Well, this is where we part.” With that, he lunged forward and drove his fist into Aiko’s stomach, her eyes briefly widening before wincing shut from the pain as the air was knocked out of her lungs. The roegadyn let go of her and she simply crumbled to her knees, hearing them take off down the hall around the corner. 

Aiko frantically coughed, then bit her trembling lip as she recovered from the hit. She felt so stupid. She felt so naive for thinking she was safe just because she wasn’t near the “bad” parts of the city, and for letting her guard down. She felt weak because she couldn’t fight back. But she couldn’t just let this happen. Marin was bound to that crystal - she couldn’t abandon her companion. But Aiko knew she stood no chance against those men on her own. A hand hesitantly rose to the linkpearls on her optic, but then stopped herself. 

Part of her desperately wanted help. But whoever would respond to her plea wouldn’t make it in time to catch them - she couldn’t risk losing their trail. Regardless, Aiko felt as if this was something she needed to handle herself. This was her mistake - she didn’t want to drag anyone else into this.

The miqo’te steeled herself and follow the path she knew they took, managing to catch up with them, but keeping a clear distance and hiding in the crowds to disguise herself. She followed them through the Gates of Nald, and eventually all the way past Black Brush Station. Watching them pass behind a plateau, Aiko began to close in - which was another mistake.

As soon as she passed around the plateau, a rush of aetherical energy surrounded her in an instant, and suddenly her entire body was paralyzed. The Highlander of the group was holding a cudgel as he showed himself from her peripheral vision, before the rest of them sauntered out of their hiding spot, closing in on her.

“Ye should really learn tae realize when yer way outta yer element, lass,” The Midlander said with a falsely sympathetic smile, getting close enough so he could pluck the tome at her side from its spot and toss it aside and out of reach. “Now we _have_ t’ beat ya up a bit.”

The roegadyn came forward this time, striking her in the stomach with his fist. The air was knocked out of her once more, and though it ended the paralysis spell, Aiko was still unable to properly function. Before she could fall to her knees, however, she was caught by the Hellsguard, and dragged back up to her feet.

Aiko managed to tune a lot of it out. After the few incidents that she’d already experienced, she was beginning to figure out how to ignore blunt damage and lingering pain. But she wasn’t able to ignore how hopeless she felt. Despite them tossing and beating her around, laughing with each other and most likely throwing insults at her, the only thing she could think about was how she regret never asking for help. She knew she was hypocrite, and now she was paying the price for it. Yet, she was a healer - it was her job to protect others, but it seemed as if everyone else were protecting her, instead. It wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t she have been born with a healthier stature?

“Well, eventually we’ll have tae kill her.” Aiko barely managed to catch that part, with the Midlander’s foot pressed against her chest as she lay on the ground, and she suddenly regained the fervor to fight back. Aiko quickly managed to shove his foot off of her, but he was too quick to allow her to stumble away, and she was slammed back down with a hand around her throat, the man giving her a dangerous smile. “ _Or…_ I could bring ye along with us. See if our buyer would enjoy a… discount on a livin’ knowledge source. Or a cute slave, either way.”

Aiko felt her heart drop into her stomach. _Twelve preserve me. I can’t disappear like this. Please. If I could contact someone, just turn on a linkpearl for someone to hear--_

At that moment, a scream came from the other Midlander, Sig - when all eyes turned to him, he was on the ground clutching his leg as a small dagger stuck out from the back of his calf. The other three drew their weapons in a flash, and soon an unknown hyur - another Midlander - stepped out into view from atop the plateau they were near. He was dressed rather rogue-like, in cloth and leathers that protected vital organs, yet gave him a lot of mobility. There were two large daggers at his sides, almost the size of short swords, and he had a belt of throwing daggers around his waist. The same that was seen in Sig’s leg.

“Well now, I can’t very well let this go on any longer,” This new stranger said, raising his voice so that they could hear him, before dropping down and taking a few steps forward to close some distance. The roegadyn and the Highlander looked to their apparent leader, who no longer seemed amused, waiting for the order to attack. “I apologize for letting you go through all this, miss. Part o' me was hoping t’ hear a name of this buyer of theirs, but it seems this lot is much smarter than they appear. It was bad on my part t’ drag my feet.” The rogue looked to Aiko, and it genuinely seemed like sympathy in his eyes.

“And who might ye be?” The leader asked, longsword drawn as he kept his weight on Aiko through a foot. She would’ve tried to escape again, but part of her was certain that this man wouldn’t hesitate to drive his blade through her if she so much as flinched.

“Mm, just a simple man trying t’ find answers, is all. Perhaps you’d be willing t’ share some information about this Imperial you’ve been in contact with?” The rogue gave a cocky smile, a hand raising as if he was feigning keeping his guard down. The bandit wasn’t falling for it.

“Adorable. Ye got a lot o' guts t’ underestimate us,” The leader scoffed, before giving a nod to his lackeys. With that, the Hellsguard closed in at a terrifying speed, bringing his axe from the side into a swing, as the Highlander prepared a spell.

For the moment, this rogue held himself surprisingly well against a front-line fighter and a caster from afar. He dodged swings with apparent ease, keeping himself close so that the thaumaturge wasn’t able to cast anything too extravagant, else he catch his ally in the spell’s wake. Eventually, the rogue managed to maneuver everything closer to the Highlander, and in a swift motion, he rushed toward him, unsheathing and bringing both of his daggers into the man’s chest and killing him in an instant.

In that same moment, Aiko could swear that she saw regret in the rogue’s eyes.

An irritated growl was heard from the Midlander above her, and he soon closed in on the rogue, leaving Aiko there to watch her savior exchange blows between the other two men in horror, dodging axe swings and deflecting sword jabs. And yet, despite him not being able to get in a hit himself, he didn’t seem to be tiring out.

In the midst of their fight, however, Sig managed to pull out the dagger and recover enough to stand. By the time he drew his own sword and snuck around behind them, Aiko realized it too late.

“ _Watch out!!_ ” She called out, and the rogue quickly realized his mistake, but not quick enough. Sig’s sword came down in a slash across the rogue’s back, who let out a loud hiss of pain, before ducking down and giving a leg sweep. He knocked Sig off of his feet, then managed to jump over him and away from the other two.

In the meantime, Aiko knew that she couldn’t sit there and do nothing. She scanned the area, quickly spotting her book and rushing over to it. Picking it up, she flipped to a familiar page as if she knew exactly where it was, before holding it out in front of her and mumbling its contents aloud. The aether around her ignited in an instant, and after just barely a moment passed, she waved her hand and cast her aether to surround the rogue, healing his wound and coating him in a shield. Everyone stopped to glance back at her, and with a scoff, the leader turned to his Hellsguard friend. “Kill her.”

The roegadyn turned and started toward her, but the rogue wouldn’t allow it. While the leader wasn’t looking, he jumped up and landed upon the Hellsguard’s back, plunging his daggers into both sides of his shoulders. There was an exaggerated spray of blood, before more spurted out of his mouth, and he crumpled to the ground with the rogue still on top of him. Aiko was frozen in a mild horror, despite having seen worse. It wasn’t the blood and gore that bothered her - she saw enough of that as a healer - it was watching a life be taken so easily without a second thought. And yet, once again, she swore that there was an obvious regret of some kind in the rogue’s eyes, even as he glanced at her to make sure she was unharmed before turning back to face his final opponents.

The Midlander made an incredibly irritated sound, realizing that he was now at a disadvantage, even if Sig was back on his feet (again). Dropping his stance, he released his sword and rose his hands in the air, and Sig frantically did the same after realizing what he was doing. The rogue never put away his weapons, moving to them to tie them up and make sure they weren’t going anywhere. While handling the leader, however, he did stick a hand in his pocket, pulling out Aiko’s brooch.

“I believe this belongs t’ you,” He said, handing it over to her. With tears in her eyes, she studied it to make sure it wasn’t damaged, then poured aether into it to summon Marin - a faerie - who manifested with a confused expression. It didn’t take long for their empathetic bond to explain what had happened, and the faerie comforted (and scolded) Aiko as she held her close... before the Keeper brought her attention back to her savior.

“Th… thank you,” Aiko said with an emotional smile, wiping her eyes dry.

The two of them escorted the bandits to Black Brush, notifying the Brass Blades there what exactly had happened. After contacting the Flames in the city, Aiko and the rogue walked with the Blades back to Ul’dah, where they would turn over the prisoners and give statements about what had happened.

Once everything was said and done, Aiko met back up with him in front of the Hall of Flames.

“Th-thank you again for everything! I truly thought I was going to die, or worse…” She said, unable to not think about every single stupid mistake she committed, despite them being so obviously stupid. She only glanced back up to him when he patted her on the shoulder, giving a reassuring smile.

“‘Tis nothing. I had been tailing them all th’ way from Vylbrand on a personal quest of my own,” He explained, running a hand through his golden hair. “They’re in contact with a Garlean that I may have grief with, and so I intend t’ stick around until the Flames are able t’ pull some information out of them. But when I saw that you continued t’ follow, I couldn’t just let them do whatever they wanted. Killing isn’t something I enjoy, but… well, you deserved better.”

“Ah… well, I suppose I was lucky you were around, then,” She said, eyes filling with remorse. “I… apologize for making things worse for you.”

“Nonsense! I’d say that fate had a hand in us meeting, t’ be quite honest. Had you not been there, they probably would’ve outnumbered me. You kept me alive with a single spell, and for that I am thankful.”

Aiko looked up to him, and the sparkle in his minted gaze spoke sincerity to her. She couldn’t help but smile at him. “If - if you wish, I could help you! To repay you for saving me…”

He shook his head. “Th’ last thing I need is for someone t’ get hurt because of me.” _Again._ “Perhaps if the Twelve wish for us t' meet again, we’ll run into each other on th’ road.”

“I see… Well, then, I pray you have a safe journey, um…” She paused, pondering for a moment.

“Ah! I see I forgot t’ introduce m’self.” The rogue gave a bow, before offering her a goofy grin. “Terres Regalius, at your service!”


End file.
